Lady Jackets Host Rocky Wednesday for Second Annual Rimrock Cup (Oct. 28, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – The MSU Billings women’s soccer team will try to take the Rimrock Cup away from Rocky Mountain College on Wednesday when the Yellowjackets face the Bears for the second and final time this season.  A win or a tie will give the Cup—which Rocky won last year by winning both meetings between the two teams—to MSU Billings since the Yellowjackets won the first game of this year’s series, 3-0 at Rocky on September 20.  The schools started playing for the Rimrock Cup in 2002.

Last year Rocky won both games because the Bears were the more physical team.  MSUB turned the tables in September, unveiling a team that was much faster and more physical than the 2002 squad.  That play led to three Yellowjacket goals in a span of 23 minutes in the first half and a dominating shutout of the Bears.  Margot Merrill-Johnson, Sara Otis, and Ally Taylor each scored goals, and each figures to play a key role in the Yellowjackets’ game plan against Rocky the second time around.

Taylor (Fr., Ojai, CA) leads the Yellowjackets with 19 points on six goals and seven assists.  She has scored either a goal or an assist in every game in which the Yellowjackets have scored at least one goal, including three games in which she had both a goal and an assist.  Taylor will be at the point of the Yellowjackets’ attack Wednesday from her forward position.  Taylor and Candy Cherry (Jr., Missoula, MT) will likely take most of the Jackets’ corner kicks.

Merrill-Johnson (Jr., Salt Lake City) leads the Yellowjackets with eight goals and is just a point behind Taylor with 18 for the season.  Of the eight games MSUB has scored at least a goal, she has scored in six of them, including two multiple-goal games.  Merrill-Johnson has played almost every position on the field for the Yellowjackets this season and played several positions last time against Rocky when MSUB was forced to play short for much of the second half.

Otis (Sr., Vancouver, WA) is the Jackets’ third leading scorer with nine points on three goals and three assists.  All of her points came in games in which she had a goal and an assist, including her three points in the last meeting against Rocky.  Otis is also third on the team with 29 total shots following Taylor’s 48 and Merrill-Johnson’s 30.

Stephanie Clark (Jr., Tualatin, OR) has scored six points on three goals this season and is the Yellowjackets’ most dangerous threat off the free kick.  From her defender position, Clark has the ability to put pressure on opposing defenses with her booming free kicks. 

One area that the Yellowjackets may not have to recruit for a few years is goalkeeper.  Freshmen Megan Plank (Phoenix, AZ) and Alyssa Wolfer (Longmont, CO) have both been solid in goal all season and each started one of the Jackets’ two games last week.  Plank has a 1.08 goals against average and has made 82 saves in 989 minutes of action.  Wolfer has a 2.64 goals against average in 477 minutes with 42 saves.  She took the 1-0 overtime loss to Northern Colorado on Sunday due to an unstoppable header off the crossbar, but saved several tough shots throughout the game. 

With two games remaining on the schedule, MSU Billings is 6-9-1.  Just like the last time they faced Rocky, the Yellowjackets will be looking to stop a three game losing streak, including two losses to Division I teams. 

The Bears are 7-8-0 after two wins on the road last weekend in which they outscored their opponents 8-2.  Jeannie McGonagle, Claire Crosbie and Rachel Hegarty have each scored seven goals for Rocky.  McGonagle leads the Bears with 18 points.  Krystel Silva has scored six goals, including two in the win over Huron last weekend.

Game time for Wednesday is set for 3:00 p.m. at the MSU Billings College of Technology.  Wednesday’s forecast calls for morning rain showers and game time temperatures around 40 degrees.